UN rights expert accuses Israel of war crimes over house demolitions

The UN rapporteur for human rights in the occupied territories accused the Israeli government of war crimes for the punitive destruction of Palestinian homes in a report released here Thursday.

"It is difficult to resist the conclusion that punitive house demolitions constitute serious war crimes," John Dugard, a South African law professor, said in the report.

Dugard said the destruction of Palestinian homes following acts of hostility against Israeli forces were carried out as punishment, and therefore were in breach of the Geneva war crimes conventions.

These prohibit the indiscriminate destruction of civilian property "except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."

The report echoed allegations made last November by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, which said that 12 innocent people lost their home for every person suspected of participation in attacks against Israelis.

Israel says the policy acts as a deterrent to militants.

Dugard also said in effect that the announced Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip is a sham.

"In reality," he said, "Israel does not plan to relinquish its grasp on the Gaza Strip. It plans to retain ultimate control over Gaza by controlling its borders, territorial sea and airspace. Consequently, it will in law remain an occupying power still subject to obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Dugard said the barrier Israel has built on the grounds that it wants to prevent suicide bomb attacks on its territory is, in fact, a device to seize Palestinian land and incite the Palestinians to leave by making their lives intolerable.

He compared the restrictions on the Palestinians to the apartheid-era pass laws regulating the movement of non-whites in his own country.

"Israel claims that the purpose of the wall is to secure Israel from terrorist attacks and that terrorist attacks inside Israel have dropped by over 80 percent as a result of the construction of the wall," he said.

"There is, however, no compelling evidence that suicide bombers could not have been as effectively prevented from entering Israel if the wall had been built along the Green Line (the accepted border between Israel and Palestine) or within the Israeli side of the Green Line)."

"The restrictions on freedom of movement imposed by the Israeli authorities on Palestinians resemble the notorious ’pass laws’ of apartheid South Africa," Dugard said.

"These pass laws were administered in a humiliating manner, but uniformly," he added. "Israels laws governing freedom of movement are likewise administered in a humiliating manner, but they are characterized by arbitrariness and caprice." GENEVA,(AFP)

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.as...

More on Home Demolitions
In Operation Rainbow, from 18 to 24 May 2004, 43 persons were killed and a total of 167 buildings were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable in Rafah. These buildings housed 379 families (2,066 individuals). These demolitions occurred during one of the worst months in Rafah’s recent history. During the month of May, 298 buildings housing 710 families (3,800 individuals) were demolished.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/ar...